Elephants are interesting facts. Elephant - description, species, where it lives, what it eats, photo Interesting information about elephants

15.06.2019

The African elephant is recognized as the largest mammal that lives on Earth. How much strength and power is collected in this animal! You can learn even more interesting facts about elephants from this article.

1. The most important difference between females Indian elephants from males - this is the absence of tusks. In some cases, they are, but remain invisible. The tusks of male Indian elephants reach one and a half meters in length.
2. Elephant tusk size is a genetic trait. Elephants with very large tusks do not exist today. Many thousands of years ago they were destroyed by hunters. Elephant tusks in the modern animal world are small or completely absent. At the same time, a third of their length is hidden in the skull.

3. Elephants, like people, can be right-handed and left-handed. Only instead of hands they differ in tusks. Over the course of their lives, elephants adapt to use more than one tusk - right or left. They use it to carry weights, dig the ground in search of food, fight.
4. The average amount of food that an elephant eats per day is 300 kilograms. As for the amount of water drunk, they vary. Depending on the humidity of the air, an elephant can drink from 100 to 300 liters per day.

5. An elephant's trunk can hold about 8 liters of water. To get drunk, the animal draws water into the cavity of the trunk, then turns it inside out, bringing the tip to the mouth, and blows out the life-giving moisture.
6. When hunger strikes in a herd of elephants, all the animals disperse and feed separately.

7. The leaders in the herd of elephants, in most cases, are female elephants. In one such family, there are about 15 elephants with calves, young elephants and one old one. But in Africa, scientists often record cases when elephants gather in a herd in the hundreds, or even thousands.
8. Elephants greet each other when they meet. special ritual: they wrap their trunks around.

9. Elephants are very friendly animals. In addition to greeting at a meeting, they help little elephants. Just as a human child clings to its mother's hand, so the baby elephant clings to the elephant with its trunk. If an elephant from the herd sees a slipping baby elephant, he will immediately help him.
10. Interesting facts about elephants also relate to their ability to show emotions. These animals are sad if something is wrong in their herd, and rejoice, for example, if a baby elephant is born. Elephants can even smile.

11. Elephants communicate with each other at very low frequencies that are not audible to humans. This allows them to talk at a distance of several kilometers.
12. Not only ears allow elephants to hear. They can even pick up ultra-low-frequency noises with their feet.

13. Did you know that a 30 kg elephant heart beats at about 30 beats per minute? For comparison: the heart of a healthy adult makes 70 beats in the same period of time.
14. September 22 is World Elephant Day.
15. Elephants live about 70-80 years. Interestingly, females can produce offspring up to 50 years old.

16. An elephant's trunk consists of half a thousand muscles. To learn how to manage all of them, the baby elephant spends two years of his life.
17. The ears of each elephant have a unique and inimitable border.

18. A newborn baby elephant weighs about 100 kilograms. And the pregnancy of these large animals lasts almost 2 years and is 22 months.
19. Baby elephants, like people, are born without teeth. Then they have milk tusks, which are replaced by permanent ones.

20. The brain of an adult elephant weighs about 5 kilograms. This is the most big weight of this body among representatives of all terrestrial animals. Therefore, elephants are quite different complex behavior and rich emotional state.

Interesting video about elephants. In the kingdom of elephants:

The elephant is the largest land mammal. To date, there are three types of these animals: Indian elephant, African savanna and African forest. The maximum recorded weight of an elephant is 12,240 kg, with average weight the bodies of these animals are about 5 tons. What else do you know Interesting Facts about elephants? Want to know more about these animals? Then read on.

How long does an elephant live?

The life expectancy of an elephant is influenced by the conditions of its habitat. AT vivo animals are constantly facing dangers, in particular drought and poachers who kill elephants for valuable tusks. Up to 8-10 years old, small elephants cannot protect themselves on their own and in the event of the death of their mother they die from predators. in nature? The average is 60 to 70 years.

At the same time, centenarians are known among animals living in captivity. The oldest elephant named Lin Wang lived 86 years (1917-2003). He participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War, then in the construction of monuments, performed in the circus, but most Lived his life at the Taipei Zoo in Taiwan. Lin Wang was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the elephant that lived the longest in captivity.

How long does an elephant's pregnancy last?

Interestingly, the female elephant is capable of conception for only a few days a year, despite the fact that mating between animals can occur. all year round. Surprising fact is and that, On this basis, large mammals are champions among all animals on earth. Pregnancy of the female lasts 22 months, that is, almost 2 years.

After this period, an elephant calf is born, which can hardly be called small. The weight of a baby elephant is 120 kg. Childbirth usually takes place without complications. Babies are born blind and often suck their trunk like a human - thumb. But no matter how strong a rather helpless animal is born, which needs protection from predators. Only at the age of 15 does the animal become an adult and can create its own family.

How much does an elephant eat?

In natural habitats, the diet of an elephant includes leaves and grass containing high percent moisture. Depending on the dry and rainy season, it can also feed on the bark and fruits of various trees and shrubs. Considering the size of the animal, it is not at all surprising how much an elephant eats. Moreover, he spends up to 16 hours on this. Every day the animal eats from 45 to 450 kg of plant food, on average - about 300 kg.

How much does an elephant eat natural conditions. In captivity, their diet includes hay (30 kg), carrots (10 kg) and bread (5-10 kg). They can also be given grain and various mineral-vitamin complexes that make up for the lack of nutrients. Elephants drink about 100-300 liters per day. If the animal begins to drink more, as a rule, this indicates a disease. With tuberculosis, an elephant can drink up to 600 liters of water per day.

Trunk, tusks and ears

What is known about the elephant's trunk? Here are some interesting facts about this organ:

the trunk is part of the elephant's nose, but does not have a nasal bone;
long and flexible trunk consists of 150 thousand various muscles who manage it;
with the help of a trunk, an elephant can suck up up to 8 liters of water at a time, in order to then send it to the mouth;
animals use the elephant trunk only to collect water, but do not drink it (if they tried to drink through it, it would cause the same cough reflex as in humans);
with the help of a trunk, an elephant can lift up to 350 tons of food;
trunk length is about 150 cm;
thanks to the trunk, elephants can easily swim across deep rivers- this organ serves as their built-in oxygen tube, the tip of which they hold above the water, while their body is completely immersed in the river.

For digging and lifting weights, elephants use not only the trunk, but also the tusks. The length of the tusks African elephants can reach 2.5 m, and weight - 100 kg. During sleep, the old elephant puts his tusks on the branches of trees or shrubs, but in captivity he puts them in the openings of the lattice or rests against the wall.

One ear of an elephant weighs 85 kg. This part of their body is an excellent thermoregulator. When the air temperature reaches 40 ° C and the animal is hot, it actively swings its ears like propellers. In the rain and strong wind the elephant, on the contrary, tightly presses his ears to his head.

Are elephants afraid of mice?

The statement that elephants are afraid of mice appeared in ancient times thanks to the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder. In one of his writings, he wrote that elephants are larger than other animals and rats.

Modern scientists have completely refuted the discovery of their "colleagues". Their research proved that an elephant and a mouse could well live side by side, if not for one "but". The fact is that the elephant, like a slow animal, is annoyed by any sudden movements in its direction. Even if a dog just runs or a snake crawls quickly, this will make him very worried. If the elephant is shown a mouse peacefully sitting on his hand, he will not react to it in any way, and if it crawls into the trunk, then the elephant will simply shake it out with a sharp movement.

Thus, scientists have proved that the assertion that elephants are afraid of mice is just a myth.

smart animals

Elephants are self-aware and can see their reflection in a mirror, just like dolphins and some monkeys. Animals are among the smartest on earth.

Interesting Elephant Facts That Prove Them high level intelligence:

Their brain weighs 5 kg, which is more than that of other animals.
Elephants are able to express any emotion, including joy, grief, compassion. This animal can save a trapped dog even at the cost of its own life.
The elephant has unique abilities to learning, he repeats the commands of people and reproduces them.
Elephants use 470 stable signals to communicate. Using ultrasound, they warn each other of dangers.
Elephants observe burial rites. They bury the deceased member of the herd, covered with stones, after which they sit in place for several days, expressing grief.

Some more interesting facts about elephants

These are not all the features of the life of elephants that can surprise you. Below are some more interesting facts about elephants:

An elephant's sense of smell is 4 times stronger than that of a bloodhound, thanks to a million receptor cells located in the upper nasal cavity of the animal.
Elephants, on the other hand, are not as sharp. They can see the object only at a distance of 20-25 m. In ancient times, hunters sat on the back of a tamed elephant and penetrated into the middle of the herd, looking for a victim.
An elephant's heart weighs 20 kg and beats at a rate of 30 beats per minute.
Elephants change their teeth 6-7 times in a lifetime.
Elephants are both right-handed and left-handed. This is determined by the tusk with which the animal prefers to work.
Elephants sleep an average of 2-3 hours a day, and most of the time they spend looking for food and eating it.

Elephants are considered not only the largest mammals on Earth, but also one of the most sociable animals: an elephant cannot live alone, he needs to communicate with his relatives. Remarkable is the fact that elephants communicate at low frequencies, and the distance between two talking elephants can reach 10 kilometers.

elephant graveyard

The myth that elephants have their own separate cemetery, scientists have dispelled by conducting a series of experiments. However, in the course of these experiments, it was found that elephants are indeed very respectful of the remains of their relatives: they easily identify the bones of their fellow tribesmen in a pile of other bones, they will never step on the bones of a dead elephant, and they will also try to move them aside so as not to other members of the herd arrived.

Elephants don't sweat

As strange as this fact about elephants may seem, they don't really sweat: they don't have sebaceous glands. In order not to “cook” in the heat, elephants use mud baths or ears. The ears of elephants are permeated with a network of blood vessels, which expand in extreme heat and give off heat very abundantly to the body. environment. In cold periods, they narrow.

Silent as an elephant

The average weight of an elephant is 12 tons, but they walk very quietly. You will hardly notice if an elephant calmly approaches you from behind. The thing is that the pad of the elephant's foot is designed in such a way that it is able to spring and expand, occupying all more space as you transfer space to it: imagine that you glued a feather pillow to your sole - about the same for elephants. That is why they easily walk through the swamps.

Elephants can't run

Almost all animals are able to run; move in such a way that the whole body is completely in the air for some fractions of a second. Elephants, due to their large mass, cannot lift their bodies into the air and run “halfway”: the front legs move at a trot, and the hind legs hold all the weight and rearrange as if walking fast. In this mode, the elephant is able to reach speeds of up to 40 km / h.

Sexual orientation of elephants

Elephants are homosexual and that's a fact! The fact is that female elephants are ready to mate only once a year, and the pregnancy of an elephant lasts 22 months (the longest pregnancy among mammals), and males need to mate more often. That is why they resort to each other's help and practice same-sex relationships.

Elephants live in herds

Elephant females live in herds of 10-15 individuals. Together they raise the cubs and take care of each other: they can bring water or food to an elephant that has been injured in some way and cannot move. Elephant cubs live in a herd up to 12-14 years old, then they can either stay or separate and create their own family. Male elephants prefer loneliness, but near any herd. An elephant can leave its herd only if it dies or is caught by people.

Elephants live for 40-60 years. The oldest elephant is Lin Wang from Taiwan who died in 2003 at the age of 86. This elephant served in the Chinese army and fought during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).

Elephants are excellent agility

He does everything that an elephant needs with his trunk: he eats, picks leaves, picks up objects, waters. There are cases when elephants painted or opened padlocks with a key.

Elephants are very smart

The brain of an elephant weighs about 5 kilograms and is more complex than that of other mammals. In terms of the complexity of the structure of the brain, elephants are second only to whales. Elephants have been proven to have a sense of fun, grief, compassion, are cooperative and easy to train.

Elephants are gluttonous

Elephants feed for about 16 hours a day, you can say that they only do what they eat. An elephant can eat up to 450 kilograms of vegetation per day. On hot days, the elephant drinks about 300 liters of water, and this is also observed in case of illness. At normal temperature the dose is reduced to 100 liters.

Elephants are dying out

It is no secret that elephant tusks are a very expensive material, and poachers, unfortunately, do not miss this type of income. Elephant tusks grow 7 inches (18 cm) per year and can be over 20 feet (6 meters) long. If the elephant dies on its own, then African porcupines eat the tusks, thus trying to satisfy the mineral hunger. In many countries, killing an elephant is punishable by death.

Elephants sleep standing up

All adult elephants sleep standing up, huddled together and, if possible, leaning on each other. If the elephant is old and has very large tusks, then he puts them on a tree or a termite mound. An interesting fact about elephants is that baby elephants can easily afford to fall on their side, which they successfully do, but for some reason this habit disappears with age.

Elephants are killers

Most often in circuses, trainers die from elephants, because the latter accidentally sit on them or step on them. At the beginning of the 20th century, several elephants were executed in the United States because they crushed people. For example, in 1903, the circus elephant Topsy was sentenced to death in 1903 by alternating current for crushing three people. And in 1916, an elephant named Big Mary was tried to shoot for a similar offense, but a few hours later they hung on a crane.

Traditionally, there are two types of elephants: Asian and African. Unfortunately, due to many reasons, such as poaching and habitat destruction, the population of these majestic animals is steadily declining.

Elephants are the largest land animals living in South-East Asia and Africa in tropical forests and savannahs. Traditionally, there are two types of elephants: Asian and African.Unfortunately, due to many reasons, such as poaching and habitat destruction, the population of these majestic animals is steadily declining.

Believe me, there is still a lot you do not know about these beautiful, intelligent and peaceful mammals:

1. Female elephants can produce offspring up to 50 years old every 2-4 years. Typically, twinselephants are rarely born, more often one baby elephant is born. Elephant females have the longest periodpregnancy from all mammals - 22 months.

2. Most big elephant in the world weighed a record 12 thousand kilograms, and reached a height of as much as four meters.

3. Unlike most mammals, in which milk teeth change to permanent teeth, only oneSince elephants are polyphyodonts, that is, they change their teeth throughout their lives.

4. Along with humans, monkeys, magpies and dolphins, elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror.

5. Elephants can receive seismic signals using sensitive cells in their legs. These vibrationscaused by impacts on the ground, pass into the middle ear of the elephant through the bones of the forelimbs. Catchinga seismic alarm signal, the elephant learns about the approach of a predator and becomes in a protective stance.

6. Elephants are the largest animals in the world, but compared to whales, theymore like gnomes. For comparison: the tongue of a blue whale weighs as much as one adult elephant.

7. Elephants can only move forward or backward and cannot gallop or jump. Elephant -such a heavy animal that it is unable to lift all four limbs off the ground simultaneously.

8. Contrary to popular myth, elephants are not afraid of mice. However, they are afraid of ants and bees. ATAs a result, farmers in some African countries use bee hives to protect their fields from elephant raids.

9. Hyraxes are the closest relatives of modern elephants. These small, dense, herbivoresmammals are often mistaken for rodents.

10. Elephants, like people, are capable of very wide range emotions. They experience a sense of loss, grief,also capable of crying. Elephants remember and mourn their loved ones even many years aftertheir deaths. When a man named Lawrence Anthony died, the author of The Elephant's Whisper, who saved the lives of manyanimals, a whole herd of elephants came to his house to say goodbye to their friend.

11. Elephants make several types of sounds, the most famous of which is a loud trumpet sound. So elephantsshow that they are worried, grieving or showing aggression. Elephants can hear each otherdistance up to 10 kilometers.

12. It is popularly believed that elephants have an excellently developed rumple. This assertion hasreal basis. The fact is that elephants form an image of a familiar spatial environment, socalled a cognitive map. The presence of a good memory in elephants is also indicated by their abilitytrack the whereabouts of members of your family group.

13. An elephant's trunk has over 40,000 muscles. Despite the fact that the elephant trunk is very large (its weightis about 180 kilograms), the elephant is very clever with it and can capture very smallthings like rice grains.

14. The main reason for the mass killings of elephants by poachers is their tusks. Although scientists have long proventhat the tusks are made of dentine, a substance similar to bone and having no valuable properties.

15. Stories that elephants, eating the ripe fruits of the marula tree, get drunk and begin to rage, arepure myths. Animals do not pick up overripe fruits that have fallen to the ground, in whichcontains the most alcohol. Even if an elephant takes a marula fruit, it will need to eat about 1400pieces to get drunk.

The largest land mammal is the elephant.

Elephant - description and characteristics

The majestic animal has practically no enemies and does not attack anyone itself, being a herbivore. Today they can be found in wild nature, in national parks and reserves, in circuses and zoos, and there are also domesticated individuals. Much is known about them: how many years elephants live, what elephants eat, how long an elephant's pregnancy lasts. And yet the secrets remain.

This animal cannot be confused with any other, since hardly anyone from such sizes land mammals can boast. The height of this giant can reach up to 4.5 meters, and weight - up to 7 tons. The largest is the African savannah giant. Indian counterparts are somewhat lighter: weight up to 5.5 tons for males and 4.5 for females. Forest elephants are considered the lightest - up to 3 tons. In nature, there are also dwarf varieties that do not reach even 1 ton.

The elephant's skeleton is strong and can withstand such an impressive weight. The body is massive and muscular.

The head of the animal is large, with a protruding frontal zone. The adornment is his mobile ears, which perform the function of a heat regulator and a means of communication between fellow tribesmen. When attacking a herd, animals begin to actively move their ears, scaring off enemies.

The legs are also unique. Contrary to popular belief that animals are noisy and clumsy, these giants walk almost silently. There are thick fat pads on the feet that soften the step. Distinctive feature is the ability to bend the knees, the animal has two kneecaps.

Animals have a small tail ending in a non-fluffy tassel. Usually the cub holds on to it so as not to lag behind the mother.

A distinctive feature is the elephant's trunk, the mass of which in an elephant can reach up to 200 kg. This organ is a fused nose and upper lip. Consisting of over 100,000 strong muscles and tendons, the elephant's trunk has incredible flexibility and strength. They tear off the vegetation and send it to their mouths. Also, the elephant's trunk is a weapon with which he defends himself and fights with an opponent.

Through the trunk, the giants also draw in water, which is then sent to the mouth or poured over. Elephants up to a year have little control of their proboscis. For example, they cannot drink with it, but kneel down and drink with their mouths. But they hold onto their mother's tail tightly with their trunk from the first hours of their lives.

Elephant vision and hearing

Relative to the size of the animal, the eyes are small, and sharp eyesight these giants are no different. But they have excellent hearing and are able to recognize sounds even at very low frequencies.

It is believed that animals hear thunder at a distance of up to 100 km and can accurately find water at a great distance by noise.

Leather

The body of a large mammal is covered with thick gray or brown skin, dotted with many wrinkles and folds. A rare hard bristle on it is observed only in cubs. In adults, it is practically absent.

The color of the animal directly depends on the habitat, since elephants often, protecting themselves from insects, sprinkle themselves with earth and clay. Therefore, some representatives appear brown and even pink.

Among the giants is very rare, but still there are albinos. Such animals in Siam are considered cult. White elephants were taken especially for the royal families.

Jaws

The giant's decoration is his tusks: the older the animal, the longer they are. But not all of them are the same size. Asian elephant- the female, for example, is completely devoid of such decorations by nature, as well as rare males. The tusks enter the jaws and are considered incisors.

How many years an elephant lives can be recognized by its teeth, which wear down over the years, but at the same time new ones appear, growing behind the old ones. It is known how many teeth an elephant has in its mouth. As a rule, 4 indigenous.

It was the tusks of these giants that were highly valued, which led to the cruel extermination of the proboscis. Now hunting is strictly prohibited: the animal is listed in the Red Book. And the places where the elephant lives are declared nature reserves.

Indian elephant and African elephant have external differences, we will talk about them in the sequel.

Elephant species

Nowadays, there are only two types of proboscis: the African elephant and the Indian elephant (otherwise it is called the Asian elephant). African, in turn, are divided into savannas living along the equator (the largest representatives are up to 4.5 m in height and 7 tons of weight) and forest (its subspecies are dwarf and swamp), which prefer to live in tropical forests.

Despite the undeniable similarities of these animals, they still have a number of differences.

It is very simple to answer the question which elephant is larger in size and mass: Indian or African. The one that lives in Africa: individuals weigh 1.5-2 tons more, and much higher.
The Asian female elephant does not have tusks, while African ones have them in all individuals.
The species differ slightly in the shape of the body: in Asians, the back is higher relative to the level of the head.
African animal is different big size ears.
The trunks of African giants are somewhat thinner.
By its nature, the Indian elephant is more prone to domestication; it is almost impossible to tame its African counterpart.

It is Asian animals that are often accepted into circuses for their obedience and good disposition. Basically, these are rescued from poachers, sick and abandoned cubs.

When crossing the African and Indian proboscis, the offspring does not work out, which indicates differences at the genetic level.

The life expectancy of an elephant depends on living conditions, the availability of sufficient food and water. It is believed that the African elephant lives somewhat longer than its counterpart.

Ancient relatives of the proboscis appeared on earth approximately 65 million years ago, in the Paleocene era. Dinosaurs were still walking the planet at that time.

Scientists have found that the first representatives lived on the territory of modern Egypt and looked more like a tapir. There is another theory according to which the current giants descended from some animal that lived in Africa and almost all of Eurasia.

Studies that reveal how many years an elephant lives on our planet indicate the existence of its ancestors.

Deinotherium. Appeared approximately 58 million years ago and died out 2.5 million years ago. Outwardly, they were similar to modern animals, but were noted for their smaller size and shorter trunk.
Gomphotheria. Appeared on earth about 37 million years ago and died out 10 thousand years ago. Their body resembled the current long-nosed giants, but they had 4 small tusks, twisted up and down in pairs, and a flat jaw. At some stage of development, the tusks of these animals became much larger.
Mamutids (mastodons). Appeared 10-12 million years ago. They had dense hair on their bodies, long tusks and a trunk. They died out 18 thousand years ago, with the advent of primitive people.
Mammoths. The first representatives of elephants. Appeared from mastodons approximately 1.6 million years ago. They died out about 10 thousand years ago. They were slightly taller than modern animals, the body is covered with long and dense hair, they had large tusks down.

Mammoths belong to the same order of elephants as modern giants.

The African elephant and the Indian elephant are the only representatives of the proboscis order that exist on Earth.

Where do elephants live?

African elephant dwells south of the desert Sahara, in the territory of many African countries: Congo, Zambia, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, Sudan and others. The rather hot climate of the places where the elephant lives is to his liking. More often they choose savannas, where there is enough vegetation and water can be found. Into deserts and impassable rainforests Animals don't come in.

AT recent times the habitat of the giants has shrunk. The places where the elephant lives are turned into national reserves in order to preserve the population of these animals, protecting them from poachers.

But the Indian elephant, on the contrary, prefers the wooded areas of India, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Laos and Sri Lanka. He feels comfortable among dense shrubs and in bamboo thickets. Once this Asian elephant lived in almost all areas of southern Asia, but now the populations have been greatly reduced.

The Indian elephant can live even in remote jungles. It is in this area that most of the wild individuals have been preserved. But it can be quite difficult to determine how many years an elephant lives.

The lifespan of an elephant in the wild is much shorter than that of its domesticated counterparts or those that live in zoos or national reserves. This is due to the difficult conditions of the places where the elephant lives, with diseases and the cruel extermination of giants.

Scientists are still arguing how long a wild elephant lives and what is the duration of their life in captivity.

Undoubtedly, how many years an elephant lives determines the species to which the mammal belongs. African savannahs live the longest: among them there are individuals whose age reached 80 years. Forest African proboscideans are somewhat smaller - 65-70 years old. An Asian elephant at home or in zoos and national parks can live 55-60 years, in natural environment Long-livers are animals that have reached the age of 50.

How long elephants live depends on the care of the animal. A wounded and sick beast will not be able to live long. Sometimes even minor damage to the trunk or foot causes death. Under human supervision, many diseases of giants are easily treated, which can significantly prolong life.

In the natural environment, animals have practically no enemies. Predatory beasts attack only stray cubs and sick individuals.

Being herbivores, proboscideans spend more than 15 hours a day in search of food. To maintain their huge body mass, they have to eat from 40 to 400 kg of vegetation per day.

What elephants eat directly depends on their habitat: it can be grass, leaves, young shoots. The elephant's trunk rips them off and sends them to the mouth, where the food is carefully ground.

In captivity, an elephant eats hay (up to 20 kg per day), vegetables, especially carrots and cabbage, a variety of fruits, and grains.

How many years an elephant lives depends on what elephants eat. Zoo visitors often feed animals with contraindicated food. Huge mammal Sweets are strictly prohibited.

Sometimes wild animals wander into the fields local residents and gladly eat the harvest of corn, cane, cereals.

Animals are very social: they unite in herds, headed by the oldest and most experienced female. She leads her relatives to food places, keeps order.

Scientists have come to interesting conclusions. All individuals are relatives. As a rule, these are females and immature males. Adult boys leave their family and often live alone or in the company of the same bachelors. They approach family herds only when they are ready to have offspring and at the call of females.

Animals have very developed family instincts: each has its own role. The whole family is involved in raising children. In the event of an attack by predators, elephants are surrounded by a dense ring and drive away enemies. Unfortunately, how many years an elephant lives depends on whether the family was able to keep all their offspring. Babies quite often die from diseases, weakness and from attacks by predators (lions, cheetahs, hyenas, crocodiles).

Giants need to survive a large number of water. They can drink up to 200 liters per day, so animals try to stay close to water bodies. In dry times, they know how to dig wells, which saves not only themselves, but also many other animals.

Elephant mammals are very peaceful animals. Cases of their attacks on other animals are extremely rare. They can suffer from them only when the giants, frightened by something, trample down those who get in their way.

Old animals before death go to certain place, "elephant cemetery", where many relatives died, and there they spend their last days. The rest of the family see them off and say goodbye very touchingly.

Animals become sexually mature in different ways: males at the age of 14-15 years, females - 12-13.

Sometimes this age may vary depending on the amount of food and health status.

Several suitors come to the call of the female and her smell, they sometimes arrange fights, during which it is determined which male will remain. The elephant watches the challengers and after the end of the battle leaves with the winner. Elephant mating takes place at a distance from the herd, after which the couple can walk together for several more days. Then the male leaves, and the female returns to her family.

It is quite interesting how many pregnant elephants walk. Elephants bear their cubs for a long time: 22-24 months. The gestation period of an elephant is counted from the moment of mating. Pregnant females live with their herd, and males never appear nearby.

Compared to other mammals, elephant pregnancy lasts a record time: they bear cubs for almost two years. Large sizes females are sometimes not allowed to see them right away interesting position, therefore, it is possible to calculate how many elephants have already been carrying their cubs only from the moment of mating.

The pregnancy of an elephant usually ends with the birth of one, less often two elephants, which weigh up to a centner. Future mom departs from the herd accompanied by an experienced female and gives birth to a baby, who after 2-3 hours can stand on his feet and suck milk. The newly-made mother returns to her herd with a baby elephant holding on to her tail.

Elephants bear their cubs for a very long time, so their populations, subject to cruel extermination, long time were in danger of extinction.

How many years a male elephant lives in a herd is determined by the onset of puberty. Young males leave families and live alone. But the females remain in the herd until the end of their days.

Among elephants, as among people, there are left-handers and right-handers. You can understand this by the tusks: the tusk will be longer on the side with which it works more often.

These majestic animals are often found on the coats of arms of states (Congo, India). The image of a giant mammal was also on the family coat of arms of the famous great-grandfather of A. S. Pushkin, Abram Gannibal.
Elephants are so dexterous with their trunk that they can easily pick up a tiny or fragile object from the ground and not spoil it. With the same trunk they will carry a felled tree to the right place.
Some giants paint pictures that have a very high price.
Injury to the trunk most often leads to the death of the animal.
Elephants love to swim and swim fast enough.
The usual speed of the giant when walking is 4-5 km / h, but when running, it reaches speeds of up to 50 km / h.
The story that elephants are afraid of mice is pure fiction. Rodents do not make any holes in the feet, and even more so they cannot eat the giant from the inside. But animals won't touch food if mice run over it. Therefore, to say that elephants are afraid of mice is wrong; rather, they disdain them.

In some countries, these animals are considered sacred. Murder is even punishable by death.